On The American Indian Vitoria Summary

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In “On the American Indians” Vitoria argues that there are few situations that justify a country to use humanitarian intervention. Humanitarian intervention is defined as military force, publicly stated to end the violation of human rights, against another state. Vitoria discredits the justification of humanitarian intervention in every case, unless you are intervening for an ally or a friend. In this paper, I will argue that his view is more plausible than it may at first appear. In Question 3, Article 7: Seventh just title, for the sake of allies and friends, Vitoria discusses justifying humanitarian intervention in the case of helping an ally or friend. He supports his claim by citing the Romans, a well respected empire, who got to their …show more content…

Those who were for taking the land of these, “barbarians,” argued that humanitarian intervention was necessary. They believed this was true because of the sins of those barbarians. Among the sins they were committing, one that was particularly disturbing to these scholars, was cannibalism. Along with cannibalism the barbarians were committing incest and sodomy (297). In the eyes of these scholars, these sins were against nature, and under these circumstances, they need to be invaded and persuaded to stop these sins. Vitoria responds to this argument by stating that the natural law that these scholars are referring to is specific to Christianity. The barbarians do not practice this religion and cannot be expected to uphold its rules. Also, since these laws were created by the religion of Christianity, they cannot be classified as natural laws, but as divine laws. Vitoria claims that if we are going to punish them for a some sins, we must also punish them for murder and fornication (298). The reply is that punishment for fornication is unlawful. Vitoria then explains that it is also unlawful to punish for any other, “sins against the law of nature” (298). He essentially cancels out their main argument for punishment of sins. To conclude this argument against Vitoria, he points out that the barbarians can claim ignorance, as they do not practice

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